Know By Heart
by Jinhito
Summary: This is where I want to be, here with you so close to me.


**Title:** Know By Heart  
**Author:** Jinhito  
**Disclaimer:** Title belongs to The American Analog Set and their song/album "Know By Heart." Summary lyrics belong to Stan Getz & João Gilberto from their song "Corcovado (Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars)." I'm a hopeless romantic, deal with it.  
**Summary:** This is where I want to be, here with you so close to me.  
**Author's Note:** 'Nother SasuHina drabble written in my science discussions today. (do I ever pay attention you should wonder) I found more space in the summer term section of my assignment notebook. Yay! Rejoice because it means more writing for you all. Also, apologies on the conversation, it's not so exciting but it's supposed to prove a point.

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There are just some things you know inherently, nobody told you anything and it wasn't a lesson you could be taught. Couldn't argue with it or did you not want to even?

You just automatically knew - it was as simple as that.

Hinata sighed and leaned back into the warm body she was resting against. Easel sitting he had called it, using someone else for your support. It was their lazy hobby.

Who would have thought things could turn out like this?

The muscles in his lower back tensed slightly, a rather discreet action that no one else might see. He was asking if she was alright. She nodded, knowing he couldn't very well see her doing so but that he would feel it all the same.

Wordless communication, another of their parlor tricks.

In fact, all their relationship was based off that... well, that and the unknown sense of knowing. How weird a way to word a sentence. She giggled softly, her mismatched sweatshirt gently brushing up and down his clan shirt. Feeling his smirk at her own mild amusement, she reached down to her side and laid her hand mutely atop his.

Times like now are when she felt this way the strongest. As though they'd always known each other even when they were still only just perfect strangers. It should have been easily obvious to her and to him that this would be the outcome of their lives. Yes, of course this was bound to happen sooner or later. It all made absolute sense in the same weird way everything about her beloved did.

Naruto was merely a fleeting dream, something she would one day outgrow and look back on as a silly crush. Sure it was fun while it lasted, and she always knew it wasn't meant to be forever... and perhaps it shouldn't have lingered on as long as it did... but the truth was something you couldn't deny. Hinata wasn't hell bent anymore on changing the outcome of her life.

He already had an apple to his eye; she couldn't possibly be the crème in his coffee as well. And she'd known that then just as she knew it now. But it was so easy back then to forget that when you had nothing left to yourself.

_He came back, finally after three years of training. He hadn't changed at all save a height gain and the increase in his power. She was so excited to see him again, going so far as to faint, clocking out entirely on their first reunion... how embarrassing._

_But he was leaving just as quickly as he had returned. Going off to retrieve a long lost friend, bring him back for good this time. It was his promise of a lifetime she remembered him passionately proclaiming as he walked out the gates of Konoha once more, so familiar in a far away past tense._

_And when he returned, he carried with him a heavy load. Hinata had been there to pick up the pieces._

_It was then her habit to volunteer at the hospital, give back to all those people who had rescued her life many a time during her first Chunnin exam. She was a well-known face now and a very tender caretaker who provided excellent service to her patients._

_So really it was no surprise when Shizune-san placed her in charge of a wayward Uchiha._

"Thinking?" he queried slowly, shifting their hands to run the tops of his knuckles over hers. It was meant to be a soothing gesture; one of their reasons against long talks actually, because it would force them to remember. It would make them stand back and look at all the bad they'd had to carry with them for most of their lives. Hidden hurts were best left where they had originated, in the past.

He wasn't one for prying and he was pleased to know she felt the same way.

"Aah," she affirmed.

Single syllable conversations were their specialty. He didn't have to say that much and she couldn't mess up one word so easily. Sasuke appreciated it when she felt confident enough in his presence to say more but was even happier to know they didn't need that to understand the strength in silence and monotone meanings.

"About?"

"Guess." Another stifled laugh escaped her lips.

"No."

"Please?"

"Fine."

This is how it always was between the two of them; she liked it when he humored her. So humor her he often did.

"You?"

"No."

"Us?"

"Maybe..."

Hinata secretly liked to tease; conversation was all one big game.

"No." He corrected himself firmly.

"Yes?" She asked only just a little confused at who he was speaking to.

"Me."

"Yep."

"Aah."

"Heh, right."

"Why?"

"Because..."

"Hm..."

They trailed off simultaneously. This wasn't unusual.

She could remember seeing him for the first time all over again. Body was broken and bruised beyond recognition - no one was sure that he would make it through the night despite all of the medic nin's best efforts. But she had been entrusted with his life; she was his nurse, his caretaker, his angel of mercy.

_Gulping thickly under the pressure, she would have to prove herself yet again. Sakura had already screeched her out in the hallway hours before on the topic of one badly beaten Uchiha._

_Sasuke was that konoichi's precious person... and if she wasn't going to be the one taking care of him, well dammit the one charged with him better know her feelings!_

_Tsunade-sama had specifically ordered Sakura to stay away from him. Bonds, especially emotional ties, could interfere with his care. Hinata was levelheaded and equally intelligent as her apprentice and that is why she chose her for the position of his nurse._

_So she would do her best to take care of him._

_Hinata was the first thing he saw in three weeks when he finally opened his hazy eyes. His reaction wasn't wholly expected, as he had never before been so pissed..._

_He fought, tooth and nail it would seem, Naruto often had to come in to help her sedate him. Heavily... Eventually though, Sasuke began to tolerate her. She didn't sneer at him, never neglected him, but wouldn't favor or coddle him in any way he detested._

_She just did her job and she did it well. No talking involved... completely professional. He didn't really speak to her throughout the whole ordeal either, nor did he ever extend the invitation to let her do so calmly._

_Not one word was ever exchanged and they communicated by looks only. Maybe that's when they learned to read deeply into another person's body language? Speech wasn't necessary apparently._

_After he left, settled back in to the cozy of his old abandoned life, he surprised her._

_Walking the distance to her home, the Hyuuga clan house so very far from his own, calling her down the many steps and corridors just to see her face to face... he uttered one word._

_"Thanks."_

_Then he walked away. Didn't even bother to wait for her reply, didn't care to look back - oh no he was much too proud for that. But that didn't matter because she wouldn't have had anything to say in return. Things were better this way._

_It sort of grew from there, stray meetings in the marketplace, an occasional passing by near old training grounds._

_"Uchiha-san?"_

_"Hn?"_

_She'd smile his way, asking in that polite way of hers about his life thus far._

_"Fine..." He replied gruffly as though offended by her curiosity._

_"Really?"_

_She asked it every time, never getting an answer back until -_

_"No." One day came the honest truth after all her questioning had ended._

_"Aah." They'd have to remedy that..._

She smiled now though fully, basking in the glow of their connection to one another. It was so endearing to know that something so wonderful as this could come from even the most unsightly of crevices. This was amazing, so close to the perfection they had always thought was just out of their grasp.

"Welcome..."

It came out at last, after so many days, weeks, even months of straining. And he turned his face to the side so he could better kiss her in thanks.

She squeezed his hand in response.

- owari -

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Hope you all liked that; this is for my reviewer who promised a happy dance. (looks around) I'm waiting… Also my buddy Jen because she's just as much a SasuHina fan girl as I am… heh reviews are always lovely but don't strain yourself too hard.


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